Days of Delusion - A Strange Bit of History

Chapter 3

By Clara Endicott Sears, 1924

"Nature in wild amaze
Her dissolution mourns;
Blushes of blood the moon deface,
The sun to darkness turns."
Old camp-meeting hymn

Man is used to looking up at the starry firmament
with confidence and a sense of boundless security. He watches
the planets rise and set. He knows where to look for the glittering
group of the Pleiades, and for the pointed angles of Cassiopea's
Chair. He can rely upon finding the exact position of the North
Star, and knows the hour to watch for the Constellation of Orion.
When, therefore, some time before dawn on November 13, 1833,
thousands upon thousands of brilliant stars were seen falling
toward the earth, and strange, shimmering lights shot upward against
the background of a cloudless sky, and balls of fire blazed in
the zenith and exploded in the air, it can hardly cause astonishment
that intense alarm was felt in many places. With acute concern
some recalled another agitating demonstration of Nature's power
which had occurred fifty years before and was recorded by scientists
as the "Dark Day," when the sun, to all appearances,
neither rose nor set, and darkness covered the earth, as in the
nebulous days before light was. Linking that terrifying event
with the present one, many hurriedly searched the Scriptures,
comparing what they found there with what was happening in the
skies above them, and they tremblingly believed that the hour
had come when one of the Biblical prophecies was being fulfilled
right before their eyes. Throughout the districts where William
Miller had been sounding the alarm of approaching doom, the excitement
was intense, and wherever his word had spread, this awe-inspiring
spectacle produced a profound sensation, and brought many heretofore
scoffers to join those who believed in his prophecy.

The following letter addressed to the editor
appeared in the "Baltimore Patriot" of November 13,
1833, and gives a vivid account of this famous phenomenon:

"Mr. Munro:

" Being up this morning, I witnessed one
of the most grand and alarming spectacles which ever beamed upon the eye of Man. The light in my room was so great that I could see the hour of the morning by my watch, which hung over the mantle, and supposing that there was a fire near at hand, probably on my own premises, I sprang to the window and, behold, the stars, or some other bodies presenting a fiery appearance, were descending in torrents as rapid and numerous as ever I saw flakes of snow or drops of rain in the midst of a storm.

"Occasionally a large body of apparent fare would be hurled through the atmosphere which without noise exploded, when millions of fiery particles would be cast through
the surrounding air. To the eye it presented the appearance of what might be called a raining of fire, for I can compare it to nothing else. Its continuance, according to my time from the moment I discovered it, was twenty minutes, but a friend, whose lady was up, says it commenced at half-past four - that she was watching the sick-bed of a relative and therefore can speak positively as to the hour of its commencement. If our time was correct, it rained fire fifty minutes. The shed in the yard adjoining my own was covered with stars, as I supposed, during the whole time.

"A friend at my elbow who also witnessed it and in whose veracity I can place the most implicit reliance, confirms my own observation of the phenomenon, and adds that the
fiery particles which fell south descended in a southern direction, and those north took a northern direction. He thinks it commenced earlier than at the period at which I first witnessed it, and that it lasted longer - that when the clock struck six there were still occasional descents of stars.

"I have stated facts as they present themselves
to my mind. I leave it to the philosophers to account for the
phenomenon.

"Yours truly "'B.'"

Startling as this description is, there are
many others written at the time that are equal to it. Henry Dana
Ward's account sent to the "New York Chamber of Commerce,"
is one of them. He writes as follows:

"In your paper this morning some notice
is taken of the phenomenon of yesterday. It comes so far short
of the view taken of it by myself, and a number of friends who
gazed upon it with me, that I send you the story of that eventful
scene, as we witnessed it.

"One of the family rose at five o'clock
A.M. to prepare for leaving the city in the seven o'clock boat.
He threw up the window to see whether the dawn had come, and
behold! the east was lighted up and the heavens were apparently
falling. He rubbed his eyes in doubt, but seeing on every side
the starry firmament as it were broken up and falling like flakes
of snow and whitening the skies, he aroused the whole family.
At the cry, 'Look out of the window!' I sprang from a deep sleep,
and with wonder saw the east lighted up with the dawn of meteors.

'The zenith the north and the west also showed
the falling stars in the very image of one thing and of only one
I ever heard of. I called to my wife to behold, and while robing
she exclaimed, 'See how the stars fall!' - and we felt in our
hearts that it was the sign of the last days. For truly 'the
stars of Heaven fall onto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth
her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind."'

This same idea was ex-pressed in an article
in the " Connecticut Observer of November 25, 1833, which
was copied from a paper called the "Old Countryman."
It reads as follows:

"We pronounce the raining of fire which
we saw on Wednesday morning last, an awful type, a sure forerunner
- a merciful sign of the great and dreadful day which the inhabitants
of the earth will witness when the Sixth Seal shall be opened.
The time is just at hand described, not only in the New Testament,
but in the Old. A more correct picture of a fig tree casting
its leaves when blown by a mighty wind is not possible to behold."

A correspondent of the "New York American"
at Acquackanonk seems to have had a peculiarly trying experience.
He states that the shooting stars varied in size from the bulk
of a pea to that of a walnut, and were varied in colors - red,
blue, yellow, and white! "Several," he writes came
within a foot of the writer's person, and one exploded close
to his face, and instantaneously disappeared without any particular
odor!"

In a publication called "Last Day Tokens"
(1843) several newspaper reports of this phenomenon of the falling
stars were reprinted, one of which reads thus:

"The Sussex papers described the exhibition
in their vicinity as having been somewhat singular. The people
seem to have been much alarmed. They thought that the stars had
in reality shot madly from their spheres, and that the whole economy
of Nature was returning to its original chaos. One person said
that he kept his eye upon the morning star, resolved that
if that departed he should give up all hope!"

The "Rockingham (Virginia) Register"
called it "a rain of fires - thousands of stars being seen
falling at once; some said it began with considerable noise!"

The "Lancaster Examiner" declared
that "the air was filled with innumerable meteors or stars
- hundreds of thousands of brilliant bodies might be seen falling
at every moment."

The " Salem Register" stated that
"some attributed them to stones ejected by volcanoes on the moon."

After these graphic accounts it is interesting
to note the opinion of a scientist. In
commenting upon the extraordinary spectacle,
Professor Olmstead, of Yale College, made
the following statement, according to the aforesaid
paper, "Last Day Tokens" (1843):

"Those who were so fortunate as to witness the exhibition of shooting stars on the
morning of November 13, 1833, probably saw
the greatest display of celestial fireworks that has ever been
seen since the creation of the world, or at least within the annals covered by the pages of history."

After this, as his following grew in numbers,
William Miller's enthusiasm and faith in his own prophecy increased
accordingly. In a letter to good Brother Hendryx that same year
he burst forth into a Walt Whitman-like flow of language that
is bewildering. Yet this style was peculiarly his own and the
following is an interesting example of it:

"I wish I had the tongue of an
Apollo, and the mental powers of a Paul!" he writes in this
exuberant letter. "O may the Bible be to us a rock, a pillar,
a compass, a chart, a statute, a directory, a polar star, a traveler's
guide, a pilgrim's companion, a shield of faith, a ground of hope,
a history, a chronology, an armory, a storehouse, a mirror, a
toilet, a closet, a prayer-book, an epistle, a love letter, a
friend, a foe, a revenue, a treasury, a bank, a fountain, a cistern,
a garden, a lodge, a field, a haven, a sun, a moon, a star, a
door, a window, a light, a lamp, a luminary, a morning, a noon,
an evening, an hour-glass, a dayman, a servant, a handmaid!

"It is meat, food, drink, raiment,
shelter, warmth, heat, a feast, fruit, apples, pictures, wine,
milk, honey, bread, butter, oil, refreshment, rest, strength,
stability, wisdom, life, eyes, hands, feet, breath; it is a help
to hearing, seeing, feeling, tasting, smelling, understanding,
forgiving, loving, hoping, enjoying, adoring, and saving; it teaches
salvation, justification, sanctification, redemption and glorification;
it declares condemnation, destruction and desolation; it tells
us what we were, are, and shall be; begins with the beginning,
carries us through the intermediate and ends only with the end;
it is past, present, and to come; it discourses the first great
cause of all effects, and the effects of all causes; it speaks
of life, death, and judgment, body, soul, and spirit, heaven,
earth, and hell; it makes use of all nature as figures, to sum
up the value of the gospel; and declares itself to be the word
of God. And your friend and brother believes it. "William
Miller."

But he had to suffer for this change of faith.
His former associates were indignant at it. They termed it an
audacity for him to be preaching to others that he had denied
as a fallacy in the past. Other friends, remembering his scathing
ridicule of themselves and their faith in former days, could not
resist casting his own taunts back into his face.

From this he suffered keenly, and at times
he felt his courage sorely tried. Like many who indulge in casting
ridicule upon the religious faith of others, he felt the sting
of it to be almost beyond endurance when he found it turned upon
himself. But he was too deeply in earnest to be led into swerving
away from the path he was now following, and he continued to plod
from place to place, carrying his message and sounding his warning.

The Baptist Church had by this time accorded
him a license to preach and in a letter to Brother Hendryx dated
February 23, 1834, he refers to this:

"You have undoubtedly heard that I have
been trying to preach (as some call it) about in this vicinity
(Low Hampton). I have been laboring, it is true, in my weak manner,
in Dresden two or three months . You laugh, Bro. Hendryx,
to think old Bro. Miller is preaching! But laugh on: You are
not the only one that laughs; and it is all right. I deserve
it. If I could preach the truth, it is all I could ask."

In reply to a letter addressed to him as Reverend
he again writes to Brother Hendryx:

"Dear Bro. Hendryx:

"I wish you would look into your Bible
and see if you can find the word Rev. applied to a sinful mortal
like myself, and govern yourself accordingly . Let us be
determined to live and die on the Bible. God is about to arise
and punish the inhabitants of the world. The proud, the high,
the lofty must be brought low; and the humble, the meek, and the
contrite be exalted. Then, what care I for what the world calls
great and honorable? Give me Jesus, and a knowledge of his word,
faith in his name, hope in his grace, interest in his love, and
let me be clothed in his righteousness, and the world may enjoy
all the high-sounding titles, the riches it can boast, the vanities
it is heir to, and all the pleasures of sin; and they will be
no more than a drop in the ocean."

Again he writes:

"After haying and harvesting are over,
I shall go forth again. If I am correct, how important is time! Nine years will pass soon; and then, dear brother, you and I must render our account before the solemn bar of our omnipotent Judge."

Evidently Brother Hendryx, while agreeing with
his friend's views on many points did not wholly subscribe to
his belief in the coming destruction of the world, and this was a source of great trouble to William Miller; in fact this attitude of neutrality on his part and on the part of many others of the clergy regarding the subject was one that tried his patience exceedingly.

"The evidence is so clear," he writes
to him on October 28, 1834, "the testimony is so strong that
we live on the eve of the present dispensation, towards the dawn
of the Glorious Day, that I wonder why ministers and people
do not wake up and trim their lamps. Yes, my brother, almost
two years since you heard the news, 'Behold the bridegroom cometh!'
- and yet you cry, 'A little more sleep, a little more slumber.'
Blame not your people if they go to sleep under your preaching.
You have done the same. Bear with me, my brother. In every
letter you have written me you have promised to study this all-important
subject, and in every letter you confess your negligence. The
day draws near. More than one sixth of the time is gone since
my Brother Hendryx promised, and is yet asleep! Oh, God, forgive
him! Are you waiting for all the world to wake up, before you
get up? 'Where has your courage fled?' Awake! Awake! O Sluggard!
Defend your own castle, or take sides with the word of God; destroy,
or build. You must not, you cannot, you shall not be neutral.
Awake! Awake! Tell Deacon Smith to help wake you. - Tell him,
for me, to shake you, and not give up shaking until Bro. H. will
put on the whole armor of light.... In every church where I have
lectured on this important subject, many, very many, seem to awaken,
rub open their eyes, and then fall asleep again. But the enemy
is waking up. In one town (North Beekmantown) I received a letter
the day after my first lecture from bullies and blackguards, 'that
if I did not clear out of the State they would put me where the
dogs could never find me!' - The letter was signed by ten of them.
I stayed and, blessed be God! He poured out his spirit, and
began a work which gainsayers could not resist.

"Some ministers try to persuade their
people not to hear me; but the people will go, and every additional
lecture will bring an additional multitude, until their Meeting
Houses cannot hold them. Depend upon it, my brother - God is
in this thing!"

As William Miller said, some of the clergy
took a definite stand and tried to prevent their flocks from listening
to him, but there were others who took a different attitude toward
him, though they, like Brother Hendryx, remained indifferent to
his prophecy that the world was soon coming to an end.

Before this time a sort of spiritual lethargy
had been prevalent in some of the churches, and the preacher standing
in the pulpit wilted under the discouraging display of nodding
heads in full view every Sabbath morning while he discoursed upon
some mooted point in theology. It did not add to his inspiration
to see the sexton go up and down the aisles, as was the habit
of those days, flicking the noses of snoring old gentlemen, and
stout heavy-breathing elderly ladies, with a weapon resembling
a feather duster, as a means of awakening them. Their bewildered
expressions on being aroused did not tend toward kindling oratorical
fervor on the part of the preacher!

Many of the clergy, especially among the Baptists,
Methodists, and Congregationalists, contended that any harm which
might come from the alarm excited by his prophecy was greatly
outweighed by his power to arouse even the oldest down to the
youngest in their congregations into a whirl of religious enthusiasm.
When they witnessed those habitual Sabbath morning sleepers jump
to their feet shouting, "Glory! Glory!" or else melting
into tears under the influence of Prophet Miller's exhortations,
they felt themselves justified in giving him their support.

One of the compelling factors in this drawing
power which William Miller unquestionably possessed was his variety
of moods. Sometimes he would give out the impression of a typical
farmer using quaint phraseology, and revealing a certain amount
of real old Yankee shrewdness; at other times he appeared as a
somber and serious man, demonstrating his undisputed knowledge
of the letter of Scripture, by quoting with accurate memory front
even the most obscure passages; at other times he would burst
into a flood of dramatic and often poetical prose as if possessed
by a fever of enthusiasm and religious ecstasy; and then again
his listeners would sit for hours intent upon his explanation
of those intricate calculations that brought out the startling
deduction that some time between 1843 and 1844 the world would
be destroyed by fire.

This natural and unstudied manner of speaking
out his thoughts as they came to him, without hesitation and according
to his mood, instilled pulsating life into the long explanatory
lectures he was now being called upon to deliver day after day,
almost without cessation.

The following February (1835) he wrote again
to Brother Hendryx:

"The Lord opens doors faster than I can
fill them. Tomorrow I have an appointment at Whiting which will
occupy a week. The next week I shall be in Shoreham; the last
week in this month at Bridgeport; the first week in March in Middletown,
the second in Hoosac. I have calls from Schroon, Ticonderoga,
Moriah, Essex, Chazy, Champlain, Plattsburg, Peru, Mooretown,
Canton, Pottsdam, Hopkinton, Stockholm, Parishville, and other
places too numerous to mention."

The result of these lectures was a formal announcement
made by a large number of Baptist clergymen to this effect:

"This may certify, to whom it may concern,
that we whose names are hereunto affixed - being ministers in
the denomination of regular Baptists - are personally acquainted with Bro. William Miller, the bearer of this certificate; that he is a member, and licentiate in good regular standing, in the particular Baptist Church, in Hampton, N.Y.; that we have heard him lecture on the subject of the Second Coming and Reign of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that we believe his views on that particular subject, as well as others pertaining to the Gospel, are worthy to be known and read of all men. . . .

Below this is written: "Having heard the
above-mentioned lectures, I see no way to avoid the conclusion
that the coming of Christ will be as soon as 1843." And to
this is affixed a list of thirty-eight names of men from New York,
Vermont, and Massachusetts.

His public lectures during the winter of 1835
were interrupted by his preparation of sixteen lectures which
were published the following spring in Troy, New York, by Elder
Wescott, with the arrangement that the copies held by William
Miller should be purchased by him at the market price. The desire
to reach broader fields and to spread his doctrine among all classes
was so great that when the proposition was made to him, he accepted
it eagerly. The public accused him of trying to reap a fortune
from his publication being ignorant of the terms made concerning
it.

The following summer his friend Brother Hendryx
received another letter from him dated July 21st.

"I have been confined at home for three
weeks past by a bilious complaint," he writes. "I was
taken unwell while lecturing at Lansingburg, N.Y., but I finished
my course of lectures and returned home, and have not been well
since. My lectures were well received in that place and excited
attention. The house was filled to overflowing for eight days
in succession. I feel that God was there, and believe that, in
His glorified kingdom I shall see the fruits.... Infidels, deists,
Universalists, and sectarians were all chained to their seats
in perfect silence for hours - yes, days - to hear the old stammering
man talk about the Second Coming of Christ, and show the manner,
object, time, and signs of His Coming."

That a distinct uneasiness and apprehension
regarding the prediction of the approach of the Second Advent
troubled the public mind was strikingly apparent from the fact
that while Prophet Miller was lecturing to great crowds in the
smaller towns and rural districts upon his interpretation of the
prophecies, Harriet Livermore, who viewed the manner and object
of the coming of our Saviour from a totally different standpoint,
was preaching in the Hall of Congress in Washington before President
Madison and many of his Cabinet, and a vast concourse of people.
Moreover, a new prophet had arisen in England, a Captain Saunders,
of Liverpool, who was predicting the Second Advent would occur
in 1847, agreeing with Joseph Wolff, who was awaiting it in Jerusalem.
From this time on Prophet Miller labored incessantly, delivering
as many as eighty-two lectures in the fall of 1836. People were
now beginning publicly to acknowledge themselves as his followers,
and an incident of this sort happened when he visited Shaftsbury,
Vermont, on January 1837, where he gave his full course of sixteen
lectures.

"At the close of one, lecture a Baptist
clergyman arose and stated that he had come there for the purpose
of exposing the folly of Mr. M., but he had to confess that he
was confounded, convicted, and converted. He acknowledged that
he had applied various unhandsome appellations to Mr. Miller,
calling him 'the end of the world man' - 'the old visionary' -
'dreamer' - 'fanatic,' and for which he felt covered with shame
and confusion. That confession, evidently so honest, was like
a thunderbolt on the audience." [Sylvester
Bliss, Life of William Miller.]

No sooner did he lecture in one town or village
now than all the neighboring towns and villages wished to hear
him, and space does not admit of the long list of places covering
a wide territory where he gave forth his solemn warning to the
bewildered inhabitants.

He had little time for farming in these days
- all his strength was given to what he considered to be his mission.

His family now consisted of a wife and ten
children - seven sons and three daughters; some of them grown
up by this time and able to care for the farm. Little reference
is made to them in his biography, but he frequently wrote to his
eldest son and one of his letters written to him from Montpelier,
Vermont, shows on November 17, 1838, how the agitation produced
by the nature of his prophecy was taking hold of the imagination
of the public.

"There was great excitement on the subject
in this place," he states. "Last night we had a solemn
and interesting meeting. There was a great breaking down and
much weeping. Some souls have been born again. I can hardly
get away from these people. They want me to stay another week.
. . . Montpelier is quite a considerable village, and contains
some very intelligent people who appear to listen with much interest.
This afternoon I meet the citizens, and am to give them an opportunity
to ask questions and state objections. ...May God help me to
give His truth! I know my own weakness, and I know that I have
neither body nor mind to do what the Lord is doing by me. It
is the Lord's doings and marvelous in our eyes. The world does
not know how weak I am. They think much more of the old man than
I think of him."

Again he writes to him in January, 1839:

"There has been a reformation in every
place I have lectured in since I left home and the work is progressing
in every place rapidly. The meeting-houses are crowded to overflowing.
Much excitement prevails amongst the people. Many say they believe;
some scoff; others are sober and thinking."

There is a quaint description of William Miller
as he appeared at this period which is worth mentioning. Elder
T. Cole, pastor of the Baptist Church at Lowell, had been hearing
of the great revivals that resulted from Prophet Miller's lectures
as he traveled through the State of Vermont, and he, as well as
the people of Lowell, was exceedingly curious to see him, and
to find out what he had to say on the subject of his prophecy.
Accordingly he wrote a letter to him urging him to come to Massachusetts
and to stop at Lowell and explain his doctrine from the pulpit
of the Baptist Church. Evidently Elder Cole had formed a very
definite picture of him in his mind and looked forward to seeing
a commanding figure, such as could sway the emotions of a crowd
through the force of his personality. Now William Miller was
in reality a perfectly simple and unpretentious sort of man, in
many ways very ingenuous, and probably never gave as much as a
thought to his personal appearance. He was very plain and ordinary
in his dress, being attired more as a farmer would be than as
a preacher. Elder Cole seems to have expected him to look "like
some distinguished doctor of divinity," according to Miller's
biographer, and though he had heard that he always wore a camlet
cloak and a shaggy white beaver hat, he apparently assumed they
would be made according to the fashion of the times.

When the day came for him to arrive at Lowell,
the Elder went to the station to meet him. He carefully inspected
each person that alighted from the train, but he saw no one that
answered to his mental picture of Prophet Miller. Soon he saw
an old man, shaking with palsy, with a white hat and camlet cloak
alight from the cars. Fearing that this might prove to be the
man, and, if so, regretting that he had invited him to lecture
in his church, he stepped up and whispered in his ear, "Is
your name Miller?" Mr. M. nodded in assent. "Well,"
said Elder Cole very much disturbed "follow me."

"He led the way, walking ahead, and Mr.
M. keeping as near as he could till he reached his house. He
was much chagrined that he had written for a man of Mr. M.'s appearance,
who, he concluded, could know nothing respecting the Bible, but
would confine his discourse to visions and fancies of his own.
After tea he told Mr. M. he supposed it was about time to attend
church, and again led the way, Mr. M. bringing up the rear. When
they entered the church he showed him to the desk and he himself
sat with the congregation.

"Fifteen minutes after the text had been
given out, Elder Cole was wholly disarmed. On that occasion William
Miller spoke quietly and impressively, and the arguments he put
forth seemed so convincing that he was urged to stay and lecture
at greater length to the people. This ended in 'a glorious revival'
and Elder Cole embraced his views in full, continuing for six
years a devoted advocate of them." [Sylvester
Bliss, Life of William Miller.]

From Lowell he went to Groton and from there
to Lynn, and a memorandum in his diary states that from October
1, 1834, to June 9, 1839, he delivered eight hundred lectures.

The editor of the "Lynn Record"
wrote an article which appeared in that paper immediately after
William Miller had lectured in that place. It was named "Miller
and his Prophecies," and it also gives a description of him
which is interesting. It reads as follows:

"We took a prejudice against the good
man when he first came among us, on account of what we supposed
a glaring error in interpreting the Scripture prophecies so that
the world would come to an end in 1843. We are still inclined
to believe this an error or miscalculation. At the same time
we have overcome our prejudice against him by attending his lectures,
and learning more of the excellent character of this man, and
of the great good he has done, and is doing. Mr. Miller is a
plain farmer, and pretends to nothing except that he has made
the Scripture prophecies an intense study for many years, understands
some of these differently from most people, and wishes for the
good of others to spread his views before the public. No one
can hear him five minutes without being convinced of his sincerity,
and instructed by his reasoning and information. All acknowledge
his lectures to be replete with useful and interesting matter.
His knowledge of the Scriptures is very extensive and minute
- that of the prophecies especially, surprisingly familiar. We
have reason to believe that the preaching or lecturing of Mr.
Miller has been productive of great and extensive good. Revivals
have been following in his train. He has been heard with attention
wherever he has been.

"There is nothing very peculiar in the
manner and appearance of Mr. Miller. His gestures are easy and
expressive, and his personal appearance every way decorous. His
Scripture explanations and illustrations are strikingly simple,
natural, and forcible, and the great eagerness of the people to
hear him has been manifest wherever he has preached."

Evidently the editor of the "Lynn Record"
felt differently from Elder Cole in regard to the camlet cloak
and white beaver hat! But the personal appearance of William
Miller, rough and old-fashioned or otherwise, seems to have made
no difference, for wherever he went the crowd gathered to listen
to him. He wrote to his son after lecturing at Stoughton and
then going on to Canton to this effect: "Lectured three
times on the last day to a house jammed full!" - and
so it was at one place after another.

Then came a change - Prophet Miller was no
longer to be a roaming country preacher. Destiny had something
else in store for him. He was suddenly to find himself facing
the sophisticated crowds of big cities - to be challenged by the
pulpit and press regarding his belief, to be surrounded by followers
and detractors, friends and enemies, believers and scoffers.

This great change began the twelfth day of
November, 1840, when he chanced to meet the Reverend Joshua V.
Himes, a man of indomitable energy, who took Prophet Miller out from the simple, peaceful, rural districts and placed him in the lime-light of city thoroughfares, there to sound his note of warning above the din of countless noises and the clamor of innumerable voices.

It will be seen how this change was like sowing
the wind and reaping the whirlwind as regards the simple-minded old prophet, who was fast aging under the stress of the situation he had created, and that now threatened to overwhelm him.